Praia da Ursa: Hiking to a Secret Beach

Praia da Ursa

I’ve been looking forward to doing a blog post about this for weeks. This was one of the best travel experiences I’ve had in a LONG time. Too often I go off on a lovely city break, sight-see, wander around, and head home. But rarely do I do anything too adventurous or outside my comfort zone. This hike to Praia da Ursa in Portugal is something that pushed me outside my box and I’ll never forget it.

During my recent trip to Portugal, we spent a day exploring Lisbon, a day exploring Sintra, and on our second to last day while we were still based in Sintra, we went on an adventure.

In researching things to do in and around Sintra, we came across Cabo da Roca, a popular tourist spot. It’s known for being the location of the most westerly sea cliffs in continental Europe. In our research we also found out about a secret beach near Cabo da Roca that you can hike to, called Praia da Ursa. The reviews said it wasn’t a long hike but could be steep and tricky. It didn’t sound so bad so we decided we would give it a try!

We took the bus (#403) out to Cabo da Roca in the afternoon, after spending the morning checking out Sintra’s famous castles. We packed our backpacks with towels, flip flops, sunscreen, water, and not much else.

Cabo da Roca
The main tourist area at Cabo da Roca

Once we arrived, we went over to take a brief glance at the cliffs at Cabo da Roca. They were really nice, but we were eager to get moving. The instructions to the ‘secret beach’ we had read said to walk 200m down the road and then take the path marked with a pink sign. We found the path we thought it was referring to, but no pink markers. We knew we were going in the right general direction so we kept moving along the paths.

In fairness, the walk was really nice! There were some other tourists walking along these paths as well.

We found this chair just sitting there looking out over the ocean. I don’t know who put it there or how long it’s been there but it’s one very photogenic chair.

We kept on walking, hoping that we were going the right way and wondering if and when we would stumble upon the beach. The stroll was pleasant, mostly flat and over some small sloping hills.

Wondering how those two people were climbing down this cliff so effortlessly

But then out of nowhere we were faced with some treacherous and steep downward climbs so we knew we were getting close. I have a slight phobia of walking/climbing down steep or uneven surfaces. I tried to keep it together and hoped we were almost there. I was comforted in the fact that a couple people had passed us on the trail, moving quickly and nonchalantly. Some were wearing sandals and didn’t seemed to be phased whatsoever by the obvious dangers of the cliff side we were hiking down.

We realised eventually that we had not come the right way. We saw people who had clearly just come from the beach climbing up a steeper, but much more direct hill nearby. We were kicking ourselves but at least we’d know how to get out more efficiently.

We continued on and I could see we were in the home stretch, the beach lay just at the bottom of the hill we were on. There were large jagged rocks to climb over and the soil was bone dry with load of small rocks and pebbles mixed in. It was so slippery and I was terrified. One slip could have been catastrophic. I tried to keep my center of gravity low and crab-walked most of the way down, trying to stay calm, breathe, and maintain my balance with my backpack on my back.

Eventually, shaking and almost on the verge of tears I landed on the soft sand. I turned around to see where we had just come form.

I could barely breathe but I was really proud of myself for pushing on and making it all the way down! I was elated when I turned around and soaked in the beauty of this secret beach. It was almost unbelievable. I think all the adrenaline heightened all my emotions and made my appreciate the beach even more.

Praia da Ursa

It was so gorgeous and peaceful I was nearly in tears. The turquoise water was rough with massive crashing waves. There are rock formations that, apparently, are meant to look like a mother bear and her cub, hence the name Praia da Ursa which means Bear Beach (or something like that).

It’s not a place I would’ve gone swimming, but rather sit back and appreciate the epic power of the ocean and the beauty of the Earth. A little cheesy, but sometimes the natural world just takes your breath away.

After wading into the water up to our knees we sat down and enjoyed some of our snacks and drinks we brought along, including some Portuguese ginja, a cherry liqueur we had tried when we were in Lisbon.

We took so many photos and videos so we could remember this day, but I don’t think we ever could forget it regardless. Praia da Ursa is such a special place.

We were lucky to be there to enjoy the beauty of golden hour, but we couldn’t stay too long. We had another hike to do after all and didn’t want to get caught in the dark.

Praia da Ursa

It worked out well because we got to enjoy the sunset as we climbed back up the steep slope. It was MUCH less scary going up, but it was steep and exhausting! Luckily we had an excuse to stop and turn back to enjoy the view (and catch our breath) as we went. It got more and more beautiful each time I stopped.

We made sure to go back up the ‘correct’ way which was much shorter, although just as steep and slippery. When we arrived at the top we stopped again for a few minutes to appreciate sunset one last time before walking back up the road to Cabo da Roca and catching the last bus of the night back to Sintra.

It’s easy to see why this hike to this secret beach is one of the best things I’ve done in a long time. I conquered a fear and got to enjoy a stunning beach all in one day. And I got to create an amazing memory with a great friend. It really made me want to do more active things like this and more hikes. It’s always worth the hard work in the end, isn’t it? I sincerely hope I get a chance to go back to Praia da Ursa again someday.

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4 Comments

  1. Marla
    January 4, 2020 / 8:25 PM

    Hi!

    I am planning on going to Portugal in early May. We are under 25 so renting a car is out of the question considering how much it is with insurance and everything. I had planned for us to go leave Lisbon early in the morning and head to Sintra for a whole day and visit two castles there and was going to head back to Lisbon at night. You decided to go to the beach after Sintra and I’m wondering if you would do it again or do a whole day at the beach thing? Did you have enough time to enjoy the beach after walking down all the way down? Any other tips about Praia de Ursa would be helpful!

    Thank you!

  2. Annie
    Author
    January 7, 2020 / 2:45 PM

    Hi Marla! Thanks for the comment! We stayed in Sintra for two nights so we didn’t have too far to to travel. If you’re staying in Lisbon I think it would be a pretty long day getting back after Sintra and Praia da Ursa but not impossible, depending on how late the train runs back to Lisbon. It was a long day for us, even staying in Sintra but I was happy with how it turned out.

    We were up very early in Sintra to catch one of the first buses up the mountain to see two castles, then back to the town of Sintra for lunch. Then an afternoon bus out to Cabo da Roca (arrived about 5 PM) where we walked down to the beach (got there a little after 6 PM), then back up and caught the last bus of the night back to Sintra. If you opted to stay in Sintra for a night, that might take a bit of the pressure off!

    I don’t think I’d do a whole day at the beach (as much as I love beaches) because at least when we were there the water was beautiful but VERY rough with big powerful waves crashing and didn’t seem suitable for swimming. You also would want to travel light – definitely bring water and snacks but it’s a tricky walk and steep at times so you don’t want to be weighed down with beach gear for a full day. I loved being there at golden hour and watching the sun set during the hike back up! In all, we were probably on the beach about an hour and I thought that was fine! Can’t think of many other tips other than to wear good sturdy shoes for the walk.

    I hope this helps! Have an amazing trip! 🙂

  3. Indie
    September 21, 2021 / 4:04 AM

    Hi,

    Lovely pictures of the hike. How long did it take to hike down to the beach ? and how long to hike back up ? How many miles is the hike round trip ? Would you say its moderately hard ? Will it be hard on knees ?

    And how to find the trailhead ? Is it marked with a sign ?

    Thank you in advance !

  4. Annie
    Author
    February 12, 2022 / 2:43 PM

    Hi Indie,

    Sorry for the delay in replying to you! Since Covid-19 I haven’t been traveling or using my blog at all. This trip was a few years ago so I don’t recall it as clearly these days. I would say it probably took us about an hour or so to get down to the beach, but I was going pretty slowly down the steep bits. We were a little confused about how to get down, and as I said, I don’t know if we went down the “correct” way. I don’t recall seeing any signs anywhere that pointed to the beach. We just followed other people and the little info we had found online.

    From the lighthouse, we walked North along the pathways by the cliffs toward the area where we knew the beach was. Yes, I would say it is moderately difficult going down and back up the steep areas and it would be hard on knees! We went a different way back up which was a lot quicker, and we ended up back on the main paved road that leads to the lighthouse. Hope this helps!

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